Tag Archives: Dalgaranga

Barminco to drive underground exploration plan at Spartan’s Dalgaranga gold project

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Perenti Limited says its Barminco business has been awarded a new development contract with Spartan Resources Ltd and extensions to four existing projects.

The scope of the Spartan Resources contract includes the construction of an underground exploration drill drive at the Dalgaranga gold project in the Murchison region of Western Australia. The drive has been designed to run in parallel and adjacent to the mineralised gold zones of Never Never, Pepper, Four Pillars and West Winds, to facilitate underground exploration and subsequently support future production plans.

Construction of the drive is due to start in the current quarter and is expected to take 10 months to complete. It will use a combination of existing capital equipment and an additional A$5 million ($3.3 million) of new growth capital.

The Dalgaranga project includes a fully-developed gold mining operation (currently on care and maintenance) and an extensive exploration landholding with outstanding opportunities for new discoveries, Spartan says. The open-pit mine was initially commissioned in 2018 and comprises a fully established gold mine, circa-2.5 Mt/y carbon-in-leach processing facility, modern camp accommodation and air strip. Dalgaranga produced 71,153 oz of gold for the 2022 financial year before being placed on care and maintenance in November 2022 to facilitate the implementation of a new strategic operating plan and a financial restructure. It was previously mined by NRW Holdings under an arrangement with mine owner Gascoyne Resources.

In February 2022, Spartan announced the details of a new 18-month exploration and strategic plan, underpinned by the Never Never gold deposit, targeting:

  • A -plus-300,000 oz reserve at a grade exceeding 4 g/t at Never Never;
  • A plus-600,000 oz resource at a grade exceeding 5 g/t at Never Never; and
  • The development of a five-year mine plan aimed at delivering 130-150,000 oz/y.

In addition to the Dalgaranga project, Perenti says extensions to contracts have also been signed for the following project:

  •  Siou and Wona underground at the Mana gold mine for Endeavour Mining plc in Burkina Faso;
  • An existing copper and gold underground mining project in Canada;
  • Spotted Quoll nickel mine for IGO Ltd in Australia;
  • Mt Colin copper mine for Aeris Resources Ltd in Australia.

In combination, these projects are expected to contribute approximately A$160 million of revenue to FY25. The project extensions do not require new growth capital, Perenti says.

Mark Norwell, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Perenti said “The greenfield underground at Dalgaranga project is an exciting opportunity. The resource has the potential to grow into a high-grade gold mine
and we look forward to supporting Spartan Resources to achieve their targets during the months ahead.

“In addition, the four contract extensions are another example of the 90%+-plus success rate the Contract Mining division has in extending and renewing contracts. Maintaining client relationships is critical to our long-term success, so we always strive to find ways to deliver value to our clients when possible.”

Gabrielle Iwanow, President of Contract Mining at Perenti, said: “We are pleased to be working with Spartan Resources on the new underground Dalgaranga gold project in Western Australia. Barminco has a long history of working with Western Australian gold producers and we look forward to building an excellent relationship with their team as they advance towards production.

NRW to leverage MaxMine tech platform at Dalgaranga gold mine

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NRW Holdings’ mining division has entered into an agreement with MaxMine to install its technology across the A$300 million ($216 million) Dalgaranga gold mine contract in Western Australia.

The MaxMine platform harnesses cutting-edge hardware, digital automation, advanced artificial intelligence-based analytics and human-powered coaching to empower mine sites to increase environmental efficiency and operationally productivity, according to the company.

NRW was seeking a mining technology provider who could provide reliable data-driven, automated optimisation of its operations on site, leveraging the existing teams and fleet to further its data and broader technology leadership ambition within the mining industry.

The Dalgaranga gold mine is owned by Gascoyne Resources. NRW reach agreements with Gascoyne to keep providing services at the mine back in 2020 after the miner’s successful A$125 million recapitalisation process.

NRW has invested in building out its internal data analytics capabilities and was ready to step up its approach to partnering with service providers that supply to industrial data quality and help solve big data analytics challenges, it said.

Additionally, a tight domestic labour market has increased operator turnover at all mine sites and is an especially challenging issue for the mining contracting segment.

MaxMine’s technology automatically captures, enhances and contextualises up to 10,000 times more data at open-pit mining operations, relative to the industry standard fleet management system products, according to the company. Its data processing pipelines automatically contextualise all equipment, operator, and site data relative to each other, and dynamically to the conditions within the shift, such as weather, or other external factors.

This contextualised site data (a digital twin) is translated, in tandem with implementation coaching, to generate tangible increases in asset productivity and reliability of equipment, through three primary improvement states. These are: (1) Get in control; (2) Optimise Performance; and (3) Ramp up production rates.

These outcomes are evidenced by existing customers who experience, on average, an 11% payload increase and halve tyre costs after implementing MaxMine, the company said.

NRW Operations Manager, Adam Harper, said continuous innovation and intelligent use of data is core to NRW mining division’s future, and another way NRW is consistently adding value for its customers beyond moving tonnes.

NRW General Manager Mining Division, Tim Abrahams, added: “NRW emphasises good data as a critical enabler of our operational effectiveness and partnering with MaxMine, who are a leader in fleet operations data, allows us to continuously improve our performance for our customers.”

MaxMine Chief Executive Officer, Coert Du Plessis, said the two companies were aligned in pursuing a more sustainable and reliable mining industry.

“The benefits from this cooperation extend beyond MaxMine or NRW; the global challenge of ‘Net Zero’ by 2050 cannot be achieved without an order of magnitude change in mining efficiencies. Working with NRW is another fantastic example of great partnerships helping transform a critically important industry into a safer, more efficient and environmentally-friendly component of the world’s economy.”

The announcement of the agreement with NRW comes one month after MaxMine officially launched MaxMine Carbon, a technology offering that, the company says, will enable mining operators to reduce their carbon emissions by 5-20%, depending on their existing efficiencies, with limited or no additional capital expenditure.

NRW in line for A$702 million Karara Mining iron ore gig

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NRW has received a letter of intent from Karara Mining Ltd to carry out mining services works at the Karara iron ore mine in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia.

Subject to reaching agreement with Karara, the anticipated value of the contract is around A$702 million ($529 million) over a five-year duration with a project workforce averaging circa-250 personnel.

MACA, through its recently acquired Mining West business, currently holds the contract mining agreement at Karara.

The works to be performed include load and haul, drill and blast, and run of mine re-handling. The drill and blast component will be undertaken by NRW’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Action Drill & Blast Pty Ltd. In addition, the work includes train loading and re-handling of the product stockpiles together with “miscellaneous day works” at the mine site, camp and access roads.

Karara is the largest mining operation and the first major magnetite mine in the Mid West region. It produces a premium, high-grade concentrate that it exports to steelmakers.

“With an expected mine life of 30-plus years, Karara’s operation includes a large open-pit mine, complex ore processing and beneficiation plant and significant infrastructure and logistics networks,” NRW said.

NRW estimates an equipment capital expenditure of around A$170 million to be progressively spent over the term, which will include the purchase of three 600 t face shovel excavators and a fleet of 220 t trucks.

NRW CEO, Jules Pemberton, said: “With a strong local presence in the area through our Geraldton-based DIAB Engineering business and our mining contract with Gascoyne Resources at the Dalgaranga mine site, we look forward to continuing to support the existing and highly experienced workforce on site through this transition, as well as creating employment opportunities for the Gascoyne region community.”

Karara CEO, Changjiang Zhu, said: “NRW is an established Western Australia-based mining and civil contractor with extensive open-cut mining experience gained through a number of successful mining operations in the state. Offering new prime equipment, NRW has the capability to undertake the entire Karara scope of work comprising a broad range of mining, construction and engineering services.

“We look forward to negotiation of an agreement with NRW and commencement of mining services early next year.”

NRW Holdings to keep mining Gascoyne’s Dalgaranga gold project

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NRW Holdings says it has reached agreements with Gascoyne Resources to keep providing services at the Dalgaranga gold mine, in Western Australia, following the ASX-listed miner’s successful A$125 million ($89 million) recapitalisation process.

NRW has agreed binding terms with Gascoyne for an extension of both mining and drill & blast services for the full life of mine at Dalgaranga, which increases the overall contract value by circa-A$180 million.

In terms of the recovery of all pre-administration debts owed to NRW, it has received A$7 million in cash, as foreshadowed in Gascoyne’s recapitalisation agreement, and received 24 million Gascoyne shares (post-consolidation) valued at A$12 million at the issue price of Gascoyne’s A$85.2 million equity raising. NRW will also receive a further A$13.7 million linked to ounces produced at Dalgaranga and the gold price.

In addition to this, NRW also exercised its rights as part of the Gascoyne Entitlement Offer and now holds, in total, 36.9 million shares in the gold miner (post-consolidation).

Commenting on the work undertaken with Gascoyne and FTI as administrators, Andrew Walsh, NRW’s CFO, noted: “We have worked closely with the teams in both Gascoyne and FTI to support the recapitalisation plan recognising that a viable Dalgaranga project was critical to the success of that process. Output from the project has been consistently above 6,000 oz/mth for most of this year which has provided the basis for a great solution for both Gascoyne and NRW.

“Recent announcements on potential additional resources will provide opportunities for NRW to provide additional services beyond the current life of mine plan.”